Flexible sled.



J. O. MINISH.

FLEXIBLE sum. APPLICATION FILED MAY 86, 1919.

1,051,614. Patented Jan.28, 1913.

If Jf HI u WITNESSES ATTORNEYS JOHN C. MINISH, OF RIDGXVAY, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLEXIBLE SLED.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 28, 1913.

Application filed May 25. 1912. Serial No. 699,651.

I To all whom '1' t. may concern Be it. known that I, J n): C. MINISH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ridgway. in the ct' untfv of till; and State of Pennsylvania. have made certain .ncW and useful Improvement; in ltlexible Sleds, of which the "t't'illowing is a -s ';ccitlcation.

My invention relates to improvemcnts in ticxible'sleds. and it consists in the cons'tri' cti ns.con'tbiuatious, and arrauifemcnts lieie n described and claimed.

An object of mv invention is to provide a devic which :8 more easily manipulated than the 0rd 'r v flexible sled in that. it has a'roat-"r leverage up n the l'lexild" runners.

A further objectol' mv nvention is to provide a simple device, which costs no more 1 than the ordinarlv sled for rendcringwn v lexible sled more susceptible to raiding iptluenccs. p

, ('Fthcr objects and advantages will appear in the following; spm'it cati-n and the novel features of the device wi l he particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention i illustrated in the a companviu g' rawings 'torniing part of this application in which I lrc'tre 'l' is a bottom view ol th. devicl showing the operating members li 2 is a side vie, Fig. 3 is a top plan view howing he use of my unproxcd sle vith bob Fig. 1 is a section al me the tine l -l of Fig. 1'3. and Fig. his a view of a modified form of the device;

In carrving out mv invention. l provi lo the runners 1 and J of the usual shape. At' the-rear end of the sled l. a cross piece 3 to which the runners 1 a ad '2 are ecured by means ofbrace -t. rcond ("i piece 5 ma be prmidcd having side piece U c\- tending therefrom -to the runner -'lhrfront portion of the runm -rs is curved upwardlv asshoivn in Fig. :2 in the usual man ncr and is pivotallv connected at T to a bar 7. This bar is provided with a lateral e\'- tension 7* having curved flanges S a shown I in Fig. 1.'

In the illustration l have shown the sled as being provided with a central longitudinal board 9. which is secured to the cross pieces 3 and 5 in any suitable manner. The boards 9 and 10 are secur d to a cross st rip 11, the boards 10 terminating at this strip and the central board 9 extendin; on beyond, as shown at 9. Pivotally mounted at 12 on the upper part of the extension 9 is a control lever 12. 'A T-shaped bell-crank lever 13 is pivotally mounted at 13 on the under side of the member 9, and its central arm 13* extends between the flanges 8 of the por- 4 tion of the bar 7. The ends of the lever 13 are connected by means of links 14 and 143' to the control lever. I

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood. When the control lever 12 is shifted into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 the bell cranl: lever 3 is also shifted and the arm 13* engagesthc curved flange 8 on one side, pushing the bar 7 laterally, and flexing therunners into the position shown in dotted lines. The control bar may be opcated either by the feet or by cords 16 attached at the ends.

The advantage of such a. construct-ion may be readily seen. There is a considerable distance between the ivotal point. 13 wt the bell-crank lever RIKFthC place where the arm 13 engages the flanges 8 to shift the bar 7. The control lever 19 is set out in front. of the runners, and this construction results in a greater movement of the flexible runners for a given movement of the con trol lever than the ordinary construction. .\lorcover, a, sled of this kind has few operating parts, and these parts are not liable to get out. of order. The sled can therefore be built cheaply.

In Figs. 3 and l, I have shown the applieation of this sled to bobs. In this ligure there is a front sled A and a rear sled B. The front sled provided with the extension 9 and with a lever 12. It is also provided with the bell-crank lever 13, which is arranged to shift the bar 7 as already described. l lxtending from the bellt-raulc lever 12, rcarwardly are two links 17 and 18. which are connected to a bel -crank lev r 19, which operates a bar 7 similar to the bar '7 of the front sled. The length of the arms of the hell-crank lever 19, and the points where the links l7 and 18 connect with the lever 19 are so proportioned that the llexing of the runners of the rear sled B will cause them to track with the runners of the front sled. In order to permit the rear sled to have a pivotal movement so as to accommodate itself to inequalities in the ground I provide a crossbar 20, which bent downwardly at its ends, and pivotall y connected with the sides of the sled at The boards 22, 23 and 24 are'secured 21. to the bars 20 of the front and rear sleds, as shown, to lie above the bottom boards 9 and 10, which form the longitudinal portions of the individual sleds, as shown in Fig. 4. With the construction thus described above, sleds of the bob may be.

steered simultaneously by manipulating the control lever.12 of the front of the sled.

In Fig.5, I have shown a modifiedform of the device in which-the arm'li-l of the bell-crank lever is connected by means of links 26 and 27 to the pivotpins 7, which pass through the. bar 7 and through the runners 1 and '2. This has substantially the same efiect Q the construction shown in Fig. 1, in that it provides a steering device which will flex the runners to a considerable extent wit-ha comparatively slight movement of the control lever 15.

I claim 5 1 1. In a flexible-sled, a pair of flexible runners, cross pieces for securing said runners,

a plurality of longitudinal members carried by said cross pieces, a bar secured at the 3 forward ends of said runners, a control lever carried by the central one of said longitudinal members, a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted underneath said longitudinal members, and having an arm arranged to engage said bar for shifting the latter to flex the runners, and connections between said control lever and said bell-crank lever for operating the latter.

'21. In a flexible sled, a pair of flexible run- 11ers, cross pieces for securing said runners,

, a plurality of longitudinal members carried by said cross pieces, a bar secured at the forward ends of said runners, a control lever carried by the central one of said longitudinal members, a T-shaped bell-crank lever pivotally mounted on the under part of the said central member, one arm of said bell- -crank lever being arranged to engage said 'Gopies of this patent may be' obtained for a bar connecting the ends of the runners of each sled, cross pieces for securing the runners, longitudinal members carried by said cross pieces, the front sled being provided with a control lever pivotally carried by one of said longitudinal members, a T-shaped bell-crank lever for each sled disposed underneath its central longitudinal member, the end of one of the arms of each of said levers being arranged to engage its respective bar for flexing the runners, links con necting said controllever with the crank lever of the front sled, and links connecting the bell-crank lever of the front sled with the bell-crank lever of the rear sled, the bellcrank lever of the rear sled having shorter arms than the bell-crank lever of .the front sled.-

4. In afiexible sled, a'pair of flexible runners, cross pieces for securing said runners, a plurality of longitudinal members carried by said cross pieces, the central one of said longitudinal members being extended beyond the ends of the runners, a control lever pivotally mounted on said extended portion,

a bell-crank lever pivot-allymounted under- 7 math the'longitudinal members on the opposite side of said bar, said bell-crank" lever having an arm arranged to engage said bar for shifting the latter to flex the runners, and connections between said control lever and said bell-crank lever for operating theed underneath said longitudinal members,-

one arm of said T-shaped bell-crank lever being arranged to engage said bar for flexing the runners, and a link connecting each of the other arms to said control lever.

, JOHN .G. MINISH. Witnesses:

J. H. Ross, D. ME LE J ENKS.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,- Washington, D. O. 

